La Mia Famiglia
by Jcani
Summary: "The world," ... "with just you, me... and our son" A man, desperate to make his wife happy, swears to accomplish her wish. (Contains Small Eva X Neil moments)
1. The Scardato Family

Here it is, my first multi-chaptered To The Moon Fanfic. I've taken some liberties concerning Neil and Eva's past considering how little we know at this point. I'll probably add an AU tag in the summary later down the line once we know more.

Special thanks to my beta reader RadioStarx7

* * *

Chapter one: The Scardato Family

"Arianna, _como stai_?" A man called out from the doorway of a large bedroom, speaking to a silhouette of a woman who sat on the bed, obscured lightly by a curtain, and stared out the window opposite of the entry way. The room was spacious with a renaissance-like design, the bed ensconced in an ornate bedpost with a frame overhead upon which thin veiled curtains hanged. A silver-gilded lamp located on a bed-side drawer provided some form of luminescence, aided mildly by the diminishing light that filtered through the tinted window panes held together by an elaborate golden frame.

The man was dressed in business attire, a well-ironed suit jacket over a white dress shirt tucked into a pair of paints that matched the jacket. A red tie adorned his collar and a blue pocket square jutted out slightly from his outer breast pocket . Both his glasses and his shoes were polished and gave pristine shines. His dusty brown hair, with a few stray strands of grey, was combed and gelled to side in a suave manner. His hardened eyes gazed almost fearfully at the woman's form.

"Arianna?" He called out again, this time stepping into the room and approaching the bed. His hand reached out for the curtain and moved it aside, revealing the woman he was trying to communicate with. She was turned away from him, staring out the window. Her legs were tucked beneath the blanket and one hand rested upon the other as they were placed on her lap. She had mostly straight dirty blonde hair that reached past her shoulder blades and curled at the ends. She was dressed in a light pink night gown with a rose and violet floral pattern.

"Arianna." He placed a hand on her shoulder which prompted her to turn around and look at him, revealing her freckled complexion, her small and slightly upturned nose, thinly arched eyebrows, and her twin nebulaeic combination of green and blue that surrounded the pupil of her eyes. "Hey, dinner's ready, I had the chef from that one restaurant you like come and make it for us."

Arianna gave him a gentle smile and leaned in towards him, resting her head on his chest. "Look, Nicholas, my hair grew back. Am I beautiful again?"

"Arianna…" Nicholas wrapped his arms around her and placed a delicate kiss on the top of her head. "You always were, _amore mio_."

"Nick, tell me, what does the outside look like?"

"Hm?" Nicholas raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"The windows are so dark, I just can't tell…"

Nicholas gently pulled himself away from her, walked around to the other side of the bed, and opened the window. The room was instantly bathed in a warm orange glow, matching the tinge of the sky as the sun started to descend below the vista. He moved aside and the corners of her mouth curled ever so slightly upward.

"It's beautiful," she spoke softly.

"Yeah."

Nicholas allowed her a brief moment to view the outside's beauty before closing the windows shut. "It's dangerous to keep them open for long."

"I bet our son could keep his windows open," Arianna replied bitterly as she turned away. Nicholas cringed upon hearing her retort but withheld a riposte. She raised her knees and hugged her legs closely to her chest. "I just want to see him again, before I-"

"Don't say it," Nicholas interjected, his back towards her. His eyes were downcast and his hands clenched into fists. "Nothing's going to happen to you, everything will be alright."

Arianna turned back to Nicholas, her eyes shimmering with moisture. "Nick, I can't go through it again. Please, just let me-"

"No!" Nicholas whirled around and wrapped his arms around Arianna in a tight embrace. His body convulsed lightly with every sob. "I love you… Don't just give up… please…"

Arianna placed her chin on Nicolas' shoulder and whispered into his ear. "_Egregio_, I love you too, more than anything in the world. But please, you have to know, that I'm not happy, I haven't been happy for a long time already."

Nicholas released her from his hug but continued to hold on to her shoulders as he looked her in the eyes. "Then tell me what it will take to make you happy Arianna. I'll do anything, anything you want."

Arianna shook her head. "It's not possible."

"I'll _make _it possible." He had involuntarily squeezed her shoulders which produced a whimper from her. He released her and lowered his head apologetically. "I'm sorry…"

He then got up from the bed and headed for the exit.

"I'd like to see the world." Arianna spoke up, stopping Nicholas before he left the room.

"Huh?" Nicholas, whose shoulders were slumped in dejection, turned his head back towards her.

"The world," Arianna repeated. "With just you, me… and our son."

Nicholas opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

_He's not going to be easy to find_, he wanted to say. Instead, he merely nodded and smiled at his wife. He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. _I'll find him, Arianna, I promise_.

At the end of the hall was a young man with a buzz cut, dressed similarly to Nicholas. The man was slightly tanned and seemed to possess a permanent scowl, but bowed respectfully to Nicholas when he came near. "_Buona sera_, Mr. Scardato, how's the missus?"

"She's fine, I suppose," Nicholas answered, hardly giving the man a glance as he walked by him. The man then began to follow Nicholas.

"Boss, some of the boys been hearing things through the grapevine. The Bazzoli family has been-"

"Forget about it," Nicholas interrupted as he turned to make his way down a staircase, its steps decorated with a brilliant violet rug with golden trimmings. "I have something else for you to do, Anthony."

"F'get about it?" Anthony voiced out incredulously. "But boss-"

When they reached the end of the stairs and stood in the foyer where on the ceiling hanged a large crystalline chandelier, Nicholas suddenly turned on Anthony, interrupting him mid-sentence. Nicholas' eyes furrowed into a daggered glare and he seemed to loom over Anthony, who could only gaze fearfully back.

"S-sorry, boss. Whaddya need?"

Nicholas' expression turned back to normal and he glanced back in the direction of the room Arianna was in before addressing Anthony. "I… I need you to find my son."

"Y'mean-"

"Yeah."

"Boss, please don't take this as insubordination but, your kid ain't exactly no imbecile. He ain't gonna be easy to find."

"No," Nicholas solemnly agreed, "and I don't expect him to be. He more than likely changed his name and moved out of state."

"Changed his identity eh? Sounds like the kinda work this guy I know does, he-"

"I said name, not identity you idiot." Nicholas raised his hand as if he were about to slap Anthony with the back of his hand, causing Anthony to flinch. He instead lowered his hand and sighed. "I'm thinking he went down to the court district and changed his name."

"What, you mean _legally_?" Anthony could not contain his bafflement. "I don't really see the point in that."

"Of course you don't, _stunod_. It basically means we can't track him, but the feds still can."

"Well, what about that girl?"

"What girl?"

"_That _girl."

"Are you being stupid again?"

"Nonono, hear me out boss!" Anthony waved his hands in front of him defensively. "Your son was always hanging out with that one girl, yeah? The one with the dark skin? I bet she would know where he is, and she probably didn't change her name or nothin'!"

"Hmm," Nicholas mused, cupping his chin with the side of his index finger and his thumb, "that's actually quite ingenious. Good job Anthony, do you remember her name?"

Anthony rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "Er ah… no. But I'm sure one of the boys might remember! She had one heck of an attitude."

"Okay then, ask around, see what you can find out."

"Now about the Bazzoli family-"

"Forgot about that Bazzoli family and go out there a find my son!" Nicholas' command had sent Anthony scrambling towards the exit, a large pair of double doors that led from the foyer into the main courtyard.

* * *

"What to do, what to do, what to do…" Neil muttered to himself, leaning back in his desk chair, his fingers laced behind his head. Using his left foot, he slowly began to spin the chair and himself with it, the stark white ceiling speckled with grey dots above him melding away into a circular blur. This amused him for only a moment, so he stopped, choosing now to examine the things upon his desk.

It was a clattered mish-mash of papers, pens, staples, and paperclips, all of which hid the surface of the coffee-stained desk. There were two mugs on top of his desk, one of which was filled with a hearty helping of his favorite brew, and the other acting as a container for pencils. Absent-mindedly, he plucked a pencil out of the mug and felt the point with his index finger. Satisfied with its sharpness, he looked up, and with an expert flick, embedded the point of the pencil into the ceiling above.

"Huh, that was almost too easy. Now I'm bored again."

He went back to perusing the surface of his desk for a distraction when suddenly he felt a sensation like a bullet penetrating the right side of his chest. _Goddammit, not now, not here. _

With his left hand clenched over the distressed area his right hand opened one of his desk drawers and began to rummage through its contents as his eyes scanned for anybody nearby. His hand enclosed around the object he was looking for and he pulled it out, revealing it to be a translucent orange pill container. With a practiced twist, he pulled off the cap and without regard to the dosage; he tossed his head back and swallowed an ambiguous amount of tablets.

It took a minute for him to compose himself, afterwards he hastily stowed the container back in the drawer.

_Crap. It was never that intense before. _

"Dr. Watts?"

Neil shot a glance towards the entrance to his office, finding a young woman with disheveled red hair tied into a pair of twin-tails. A large pair of spectacles adorned her face and she was dressed in the Sigmund Corp. signature white lab coat. She clutched a clipboard close to her chest as she and Neil stared at each other awkwardly.

"Do not tell anyone what you saw, _especially _Doctor Rosalene, capisce?" Neil commanded, causing the redhead to nod timidly.

Neil let out a sigh, relieved that it was Emily of all people that saw his moment of duress. She was an intern handpicked by Eva from a nearby university, and though she was quite brilliant, she was also rather shy and easily pushed around. Oftentimes, Eva would have to rescue Emily from whatever menial task Neil had arbitrarily assigned her. Had it been someone else who had seen Neil's distress, such as Alistair, that smelly old buffoon, no doubt word will circulate around the corporation within a days' time.

"Um, Dr. Watts, Dr. Rosalene just wanted me to give you this…" Emily handed Neil a sheet of paper from her clipboard before skittering away hurriedly, most likely to avoid falling victim to another one of Neil's unreasonable assignments. Neil hardly glanced at the sheet given to him before tossing it on top of the already large mound of paper that seemed to bend his desk slightly in the center. _Please don't tell Eva. _

Emily had made her way back to Eva who was in her office, one uniform with Neil's albeit with a cleaner, graphite-free ceiling. Also unlike Neil's, Eva's desk was much more organized, her papers, folders, and files, stacked and lined up neatly in a mesh office desk organizer on the left side of her desk. Eva herself, who sat behind her desk, her right leg crossed over her left leg, was preoccupied with her tablet, her fingers gliding over the touchscreen with deft strokes.

Emily waited patiently and stood at the doorway for a solid minute before Eva looked up and took notice of her. "Hm? Emily? How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long at all Dr. Rosalene," Emily assured Eva, giving her senior a nervous laugh and a dismissive wave.

Eva offered Emily a gentle smile in return. "It doesn't hurt to assert yourself every now and again, Emily."

"Yes, Dr. Rosalene."

"Your reticence is why Neil picks on you."

"… Yes, Dr. Rosalene."

"So how goes your graduate work?"

Emily seemed to light up at the chance of discussing her work. "It's going well, Dr. Rosalene. I'm almost finished with my doctoral dissertation and I can realistically see myself defending my thesis by the end of the year, but… well…"

"Yes?" Eva asked, raising an eyebrow.

It seemed to take every ounce of courage within Emily to voice out her request. "Ah… it's just that, um, I really need some field experience, you know… my thesis being about memory reconfiguration…"

"You'd like to jump into the memories of a patient and see how it's done," Eva concluded, electing a furious nod from Emily. "I suppose you could tag along with me and Neil on our next commission-"

"Thank you Dr. Rosalene!" Emily blurted out, interrupting Eva. "Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you!" Emily began to bow incessantly, invoking a chuckle from Eva.

"It's really no trouble. And if Neil doesn't like it, well that doesn't really matter does it? How about we celebrate with some banana bread I made?"

Eva bent down and reached for something under her desk. She then sat back up and placed the Tupperware she retrieved onto her desk and removed the lid, revealing her confectionary creation. The joy Emily had experienced earlier had nearly diminished; she once ate Eva's carrot cake and the prospect of eating something else Eva had baked was very foreboding, though she tried her best to maintain a straight face. This grew more challenging when Eva handed Emily a fork and presented the Tupperware filled with bread at her.

"Go on, have as much as you like. I offered some to the others but they all said they were full from lunch."

"Heh heh, o-oh b-boy," Emily stammered, struggling to maintain her smile. "There's just so much, maybe we could share with Neil."

"Neil doesn't get any," Eva scowled, somewhat pouty. "He said my carrot cake sucks."

Emily's eyes widened at the news. "Really? He's the only one I've ever seen finish…"

Eva raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What do you mean he's the only one who ever-"

Emily realized her mistake and to avoid answering, snatched the fork from Eva's hand, stabbed it into the bread, and placed a sizeable portion into her mouth.

"Mmf. Dis sduff ish predy gud," Emily managed to say as she held back her tears of despair.

"It's a new recipe!" Eva proclaimed happily as she stood up, still holding out the bread for Emily. "How is it compared to the cake you ate last time?"

_It's worse than before! _Emily could only scream within the confines of her mind.

"Mmm, better than ever!" Emily decreed, even after managing to chew and swallow what she was sure was an unholy baked confectionary from hell.

Eva set the Tupperware on top of her desk. "Well, feel free to help yourself to as much as you want. I'm gonna go talk to the boss real quick."

Eva walked out of her office, leaving Emily to sigh in relief. Emily's reprieve, however, was short-lived, as she realized that Eva would probably expect a bit more of the banana bread gone. Without the heat of the moment, not to mention realizing just how awful Eva's new recipe is, Emily just literally couldn't stomach having to eat another bite.

"Time to say our prayers, she made carrot cake." Emily turned around to see Neil standing in the doorway, smirking mischievously at Emily. "So, how was it?"

"Not cake… banana bread," Emily corrected him as she tried to stifle a sob. "… It was horrible."

Neil approached her and took the fork from Emily before stabbing a small portion of Eva's bread and placing it into his mouth. He grimaced and a slight choking sound could be heard from him as he and Emily exchanged horrified glances.

"I can't believe it, it's worse than her cake."

"She said it's a new recipe."

"Lord, have mercy on us all."

Despite his objections, Neil continued to shovel more and more of Eva's banana bread into his mouth, practically gagging every time he swallowed.

"Um, Dr. Watts, why are you still eating it?"

Neil placed the fork down and rubbed his lips clean of crumbs with the back of his hand. "I heard Eva tell you to help yourself. Obviously she expects a bit more to be gone so here I am. Consider it thanks for not telling Eva about… well… you know."

Emily nodded gratefully and Neil left Eva's office. Emily looked into the container and was surprised to find that Neil had eaten more than half of it, much more than what would have been reasonable to eat.

_What a complicated relationship, _Emily mused.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock. _"Arianna? Honey? Are you there? You didn't show up at the dinner table so I just thought I'd bring it up to you." Nicholas waited patiently outside the bedroom door, standing beside a trolley upon which a lavish spread was placed. No answer came from within and he reached for the door knob.

"Arianna, I'm coming in."

Nicholas twisted the door knob and slowly pushed the door open, peering curiously through the space between the door and the fram. When the opening was wide enough for him to step through, he did so, and approached the bed prudently, treating Arianna as if she were a gazelle ready to take off. The curtains were drawn again and her silhouette showed that she was lying down, her hands crossed over her abdomen as if she was Sleeping Beauty. Sensing something wrong, Nicholas hastily pulled back the curtains and let out a horrified gasp.

Her skin had taken a ghastly pale hue and her breathing, if one could even call it that, was shallow. Nicholas instinctively placed a palm against her cheek, feeling her skin to be balmy and cold.

"Arianna, no… Arianna? Arianna!"

Nicholas' face was buried in his hands as he sat on a chair by Arianna's bedside. The room was filled with various machines to which Arianna was connected to by a variety of color-coded wires. The barely audible beeps of the heart rate monitor threatened to drive Nicholas mad as he began to tug on his hair and disheveled his well-groomed appearance.

"Um, Mr. Scardato?"

Nicholas slowly raised his head out from his hands and glanced to his right where a man with a stethoscope around his neck stood. The man fidgeted slightly and hopped nervously from foot to foot.

"Well?" Nicholas asked, his eyes watering as he looked up at the doctor with pleading eyes.

"It is as I expected two years ago," the doctor began, "The cancer has come back. She shouldn't have ended her treatment so prematurely."

"She said it made her sick, that it made her feel like she was dying anyways…" Nicholas than stood up, faced the doctor, and placed his hands on the doctor's forearms, holding him in place. "_Per favore, dottore_. Anything, is there _anything _you can do? I don't care how much it costs, she is everything to me!" Nicholas was now in tears and he fell to his knees, his forehead resting upon the doctor's feet as he continued to plead. "Anything… anything…"

The doctor could only look down sorrowfully at the man who was practically kissing his feet. "We could continue treatment while she's on life support, but you have to understand Mr. Scardato, that even with today's medical technology, something like this is still incredibly dependent on the patient's will to live. I'm sorry to say, but your wife seems to have lost it. Anything we do now will only make her passing harder."

Nicholas stood back up and approached Arianna's bedside, stroking her cheek with the back of his finger. "That can't be true. Arianna, I promised you… I was going to make you happy, bring our son back… see the world... Didn't you believe me? Was I not sincere?"

"Mr. Scardato, I don't mean to pry, but there is a way you can still fulfill her wishes, that is as long as you're absolutely sure as to what they are."

Nicholas turned to the doctor. "What are you talking about?"

"Have you heard of a company called Sigmund Corporation?"

* * *

Neil stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom, having disrobed his coat and his shirt both of which now lay on the floor near his feet, his torso completely exposed. He examined his somewhat scrawny body briefly before his eyes were drawn to the circular scar on the right side of his chest near his shoulder, approximately the circumference of an acorn. He brought his left hand slowly towards the scar before he gingerly placed his index finger upon it and gently traced the edge of the scarred tissue, forming a circle. He then looked down at the sink where a bottle of aspirin was placed. He picked up the bottle and looked at it contemptuously, thinking back to the earlier events of the day, right after he left work.

"_Doc, I'm telling you, it's starting to hurt, a lot." Neil sat upon an examination table/bed thingy… Neil had no idea what it was really called but it is what one would sit on should one come in for a typical doctor's appointment. It had beige-rubber upholstery and the paper sheet covering it was slightly crinkled due to Neil sitting on top of it. _

_ The doctor Neil spoke to was an African-American man with short curly hair and honey-ambered skin. He was dressed in a doctor's coat with a blue dress shirt beneath adorned with a red and white horizontally striped tie. He held onto a clipboard with one hand and held up a sheet of paper clipped to it with the other as he looked at another beneath it, his lips pursed disdainfully. _

_ "I'm sorry, Mr. Watts, but I can no longer justify giving you any more painkillers. There's absolutely no physical explanation as to why you're in pain."_

_ The doctor's explanation only elicited an aggravated growl from Neil. "What? So you think I'm faking it just to get more pills?" _

_ "I'm not saying anything of the sort," The doctor replied. "Although I fear addiction would be another consequence should I continue to prescribe you Demerol." _

_ Neil pushed himself off the exam table huffily. "Whatever, I'll just buy some aspirin…" _

_ "Neil, wait." The doctor removed something from his clipboard and handed it to Neil, the second thing Neil had received from a clipboard that day, albeit he was more inclined to see what he had been given this time. It was a plain business card that read "Dr. Singh" with a business and fax number beneath. "He's a psychiatrist, a good one. He-"_

_ "So you think I'm imagining the pain?" Neil interrupted, tossing the card into a nearby trash bin. The doctor walked over to the trash bin, bent down, and retrieved the card before offering it to Neil once more. _

_ "Just because your mind is making you feel pain doesn't necessarily mean you're imagining it. The pain is real, as proof; the pain killers tend to tide you over. But painkillers aren't meant to be taken forever, they are used until the source of the pain is gone. Dr. Neil, you yourself make a living going into the memories of patients, don't you? I'm sure there are a few cases in which you've witnessed the powers of the mind affecting the body, have you not?" _

_ Neil resentfully took the business card from the doctor's hand and tucked it into his breast pocket before walking out, failing to provide a response. _

Neil bent down and retrieved his lab coat. He buried a hand into the pocket and pulled out the pill container he had opened earlier that day to deal with his episode. During his attack, he had unwittingly tossed the entirety of its contents (which wasn't much considering Neil didn't seem to be overdosed) into his gullet, thereby leaving him with no more pain medication.

_Nothing good anyways_, Neil thought to himself as he glared at the bottle of Bayer aspirin he purchased after his trip to the doctor. He tossed the empty prescription bottle over his should before picking up his plain white shirt and putting it on.

"Empty. I can probably ascertain you used them up after you little 'attack' earlier today?"

"What?!" Neil shouted in panic as he reeled to find the source of the voice, finding it to be Eva who held the empty pill bottle with a disapproving curl in her lips. "Dammit, Eva! I never should have given you keys…"

"Emily told me about your episode earlier today," Eva explained, tossing the container aside.

Neil grunted and turned away from Eva and continued with his bathroom routine, reaching for an incredibly worn toothbrush. Eva rolled her eyes and intercepted the toothbrush before pitching it into the trash bin. She then opened the medicine cabinet, which happened to be what the mirror Neil was looking into was mounted on so he had to duck, retrieved a new toothbrush still in its packaging, and handed it to Neil.

"You should replace your toothbrush when its bristles are frayed."

"Yes, _mom_." Neil unpackaged the toothbrush, ran it under the tap, and began to apply some toothpaste to it. "Just so you know, she wasn't the one that ate your banana bread today."

"I know," Eva said, her voice quivering as if she was holding back an inferno within her chest. "She cracked when I insisted she take the rest home with her."

"Sounds like you're the one about to crack," Neil remarked with a sneer.

Eva let out a drawn-out sigh before replying. "I would just appreciate it if people would just tell me what's wrong. Like you, as an example, I knew you were taking painkillers but I never thought it was this bad!"

"It was nothing, and you would have turned it into something, like you're doing now!" Neil then stuffed the head of his toothbrush into his mouth, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end.

Eva crossed her arms and grumbled at him before heading out of his bathroom. She paused momentarily at the exit then turned back to Neil. "Just a heads up, the next time we're on assignment, whenever it is, Emily will be joining us."

"Hrmf?!" Neil spat out the foam and rinsed his mouth before he turned and confronted Eva, wiping his mouth with his arm. "Seriously? I _hate_ showing newbies the ropes. Isn't she just an intern anyways? No way the boss would approve."

"He already did," Eva replied with a smirk. "Have a little heart Neil; she needs it for her dissertation."

"Tch." Neil clicked his tongue disdainfully before placing his toothbrush back into his mouth. "Rike ah werna hep shum widdo tato tayo."

Eva rolled her eyes. "Get over it, this isn't grade school."

Neil grunted in reply, his mouth once more filled with foam. Eva then left the bathroom and into the living room of Neil's apartment. She sat on the couch and picked up the TV remote controller that was on the coffee table in front of her, one that had seen appropriate use as evidenced by the brown coffee rings that bespattered the surface. She pressed the circular red button that switched on Neil's forty-eight inch plasma TV, his second most prized possession, outranked only by his coffee maker.

**"Here I am with-"**

** "-der the sea-"**

** "Lucky there's a fam-"**

Eva's thumb constantly mashed down on the channel+ button in an effort to find something mildly interesting to watch.

**"-Zzoli has been relea-"**

** "Welcome ba-"**

"Wait a second, was that…?" Eva hit the channel- button once and found herself in a news channel. At this point, Neil had emerged from the bathroom.

"Anything good on?"

"Neil!" Eva hastily and imploringly pointed towards the TV. Neil glanced at the television amusedly at first, wondering what could have Eva in near hysterics. He then took in a sharp intake of breath as he saw what Eva was pointing at.

People have gathered around the entrance of a state penitentiary facility, many of them with microphones and cameras, others with a small notepad and a writing utensil. The reporter for this particular news channel had managed to force her way to the front and stuck her microphone at the face of the man emerging from the prison entrance.

**"Mr. Bazzoli, how do you respond to allegations that you will 'make the Scardato family pay' upon your release?" **

The man being asked the question had a square shaped face upon which his skin stretched around like wrinkled leather. His hair was white and wispy and he bore a grim expression. He looked at the reporter silently for just a moment before answering.

**"The… Scardato family…" **he began in a thick Italian accident, **"I'll be demanding an apology very soon." **

_Pshew_. Neil had picked up the remote and turned off the TV. Although he was looking at the now black screen of his plasma, he still continued to peer into it like a deer looking over it shoulders at the sound of a potential predator.

"Neil, are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, no, I mean, dammit," Neil sat down beside Eva and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm fine. It's not like it's my problem anyways."

It was the worse display of false confidence she had ever seen from Neil, but Eva was not about to point it out. "I couldn't see anything earlier so I'm not too sure how he got out."

"Pardon from the governor, 'new evidence'," Neil began to list off, "either way, someone got paid _a lot _of money."

"Or threatened," Eva added, her eyes widening in fear. "Neil, you better-"

"I better what?" Neil snapped. "Like I said, it's not my problem." Neil got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "You want some coffee? I got decaf."

"Okay." Eva watched as Neil went into the kitchen and took out a bag of coffee grounds from an overhead pantry. She noticed a tremble in his hands as he handled the scoop and as he was pouring it into the machine, he fumbled it, peppering the counter top with grounded coffee.

"Dammit…"

"Neil?"

"Goddammit!" Neil slammed the side of his fists into the counter.

"Neil!" Eva got off the couch and rushed towards the kitchen.

* * *

And there you guys have it! Please leave a review, good or bad, so I know how I'm doing! Thanks!


	2. Prelude to a Visit

Chapter 2 finally here. It's been like, two months and a week? Sorry for making you guys wait so long for a chapter that I have to admit isn't all that great or exciting :/ College has been kicking me in the butt, but I kinda got that all settled now, so hopefully I can begin weekly updates!

In this chapter, I introduce some characters from the To the Moon Christmas Special episode/game, I suggest you guys play it! It's free!

Beta Read by RadioStarx7

* * *

Chapter 2: Prelude to a Visit

"Neil…" Eva muttered to herself as she examined the face of the man whose head now used her lap as a pillow. She sat on the floor of the kitchen where Neil lay, the back of his left forearm draped across his eyes. The floor and the counter top were strewn with glass, all pieces from the coffee carafe Neil had smashed in an uncharacteristic fit of rage. By the time Eva had arrived at the kitchen, Neil was curled in fetal position, his hand clenched over his right shoulder as he moaned in agony.

Only one man could illicit such a frenzied reaction from Neil.

Eva eyed Neil's right shoulder and daintily placed her fingers on it. She could feel the scar through his shirt and she began to trace the outline, recalling the anguished cries of the past. Her hand was then stayed when Neil had placed his on top of hers, pressing her palm against his scar.

"Does it still hurt, Neil?" Eva asked.

Neil lightly curled his hand around hers and removed his forearm from across his eyes. "It's okay now."

With Neil grasping Eva's hand, Eva began to think back to one of their previous patients, Johnny, and when Neil reached out for her hand. She slapped it away, thinking it was just Neil being Neil, making some display of sarcastic sentimentality.

_But what if he was being genuine? _

Neil's thumb had started to caress the back of her hand in a circular motion, and she allowed the contact, though she shyly looked away, pretending to lament the loss of the smashed carafe by examining the broken shards of glass.

"You got soft hands," Neil spoke softly.

"… Thank you."

"They're a lot like my mom's."

"Yeah, _that's _what a woman wants to hear." Eva was tempted to karate chop Neil's forehead.

"I wonder how she's doing."

"Don't you ever call?" The moment Eva asked, she realized the answer for herself. It wasn't that easy in Neil's case.

Neil sat up, freeing Eva's lap, and crossed his legs. "I've been meaning to, but…"

"I know," Eva interrupted him. She stood up and began to examine the shards of glass with a more critical eye. "You're going to have to clean this up."

Neil also surveyed the damage, letting out a depressed groan as he did so. "Maaaaan, I'm not gonna be drinking coffee any time soon..."

* * *

"Sigmund… Corporation?" Nicholas repeated the doctor's words. He had heard the name somewhere, sometime several years ago. Some big deal, some sort of scientific breakthrough, but who cares?

"What does that have to do with my wife's wish?"

"They can fulfill wishes by modifying a patient's memories. However, since these memories will soon begin conflicting with the patient's real memories, they only ever perform such an operation on the dying," the doctor explained.

Nicholas gazed at the doctor scornfully. "Making fake memories? Sounds like the devil's work."

"You're not alone in your sentiment," the doctor stated a-matter-of-factly, "I was merely presenting you with an option."

"An option, huh?" Nicholas' approach was sudden and by the time the doctor could even comprehend it, his collar has been grabbed and jabbed against his throat was the cold, metallic end of a glock's muzzle. The handgun had a chrome finish and carbon fiber grips. The slide had an ornate rose and thorn design etched into the chrome, though the beauty of the weapon had been lost on the doctor who instead was more worried about what may come out of it and into him. "How about you doing your damn job and getting my wife better?! What about that option, huh?!"

"Mr. Scardato, _please_, I've done everything I can!"

Nicholas' response was simply a piercing glare. His finger slowly began to pull the trigger and the doctor could only stand still, his body shivering as he paradoxically began to sweat until he was frozen in a puddle of fear.

_Knock knock. _Just when it seemed Nicholas was about to breach the point of no return, the sound of the door being rapped had caused the doctor to flinch and squeal, though it stayed Nicholas's finger as he turned to see who it was.

It was Anthony, who waited at the door, bowing his head and closing his eyes respectfully for Arianna.

"Tch." Nicholas pushed the doctor away from him contemptuously and approached the doorway. Anthony took a step back and allowed some space between himself and Nicholas. "What, Anthony?"

"Hey boss, sorry to hear about your missus, we-"

"Just get on with it," Nicholas interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose. The last thing he wanted to hear was some half-assed condolences.

"Er, ah, right, uh, earlier in the day, you told me to go find your son, yeah boss?" Anthony stammered.

Nicholas chose not to respond this time, merely waiting for Anthony to make his point.

"Well, after askin' the boys if they remember that girl's name, which was Eva, by the way, uh, I found her house, met with her parents, decent couple o' folks, they fed me something called-" A sudden scowl from Nicholas ceased Anthony's pointless ramble. "Ahaha, sorry boss, anyways, I found out where she works, and apparently she works with someone who seems a lot like your son, calls himself Neil Watts."

_So he took his grandfather's first name, and his grandmother's last, huh? _"Yeah, that sounds like him." Nicholas turned his back to Anthony, approached Arianna's bedside, and cupped her hand in his. "Good job, Anthony. You're done for the day."

Anthony, despite the mood, couldn't help but smile; praise from Nicholas was rare to hear. "I could go and track him down, get him to come home?"

Nicholas shook his head, staring forlornly at Arianna's pale face. "There's no point anymore…"

"Okay, see you tomorrow then, boss." Anthony quietly stepped out.

The doctor attending to Arianna let out a relieved sigh, his life being spared by the timely arrival of one of Nicholas' cronies. With Nicholas once again preoccupied with Arianna, he decided it would be best to step out for just a moment, and allow him some time to grieve.

"_Dottore_," Nicholas called out, just as the doctor reached the entryway. The doctor froze in his spot and barely managed to voice out his words as he looked to Nicholas horrifically.

"Y-yes, Mr. Scardato?"

Nicholas remained silent for a moment, staring down contemplatively at Arianna's face. He began to stroke her cheek with his knuckle, brushing a stray hair aside as he did so, before he leaned in and lightly placed his lips on hers. He then turned to the doctor, a single tear from the corner of his left eye having begun its descent down the side of cheek.

"Tell me more about Sigmund Corporation."

* * *

"…" Neil could only let out a grumble as he stared dismally at the contents of his Styrofoam cup. It was coffee, yes, but he would much prefer to bring his own rather than have some from the employee lounge. "How could we make so much money yet not have enough for a decent coffee machine that doesn't spew out this watered down crap?"

"Hey, this coffee machine's been giving me energy since before you even came here, sonny!" A balding old man stepped in front of the coffee machine, pushed Neil aside and placed a Styrofoam cup beneath the spout, from which a generous amount of black liquid spurted out and into the cup at the press of a button.

"Well, that would explain why it's such crap, it's old like you, McMillan," Neil snidely remarked as he lightly smacked Willis' shoulder. Doctor McMillan took a sip from his cup and let out a satisfied "ah", letting Neil's comment roll off his back.

"You can say whatever you like boy, but we ain't getting rid of this coffee maker, ya hear?" McMillan patted Neil's back in turn and left the lounge.

"Beat this machine with a bat, that's how I'd like to get rid of it…" Neil grumbled. He took a hesitant sip before making a face, dumping the rest of it into the sink, and tossing the cup into the disposal bin. "God, that's horrible…"

"Doctor Watts?"

The familiar meek voice prompted Neil to look to his left, where a twin-tailed bespectacled redhead stood.

"Doctor Watts, I have a-"

She was silenced when Neil pointed an over-dramatic finger at her face. "You! You don't get to speak with me!"

"W-wha-"

"Silence! Not a word! You told Eva what happened!"

"Doctor Watts, I-"

"As punishment, you will run ten laps around the building!"

"But-"

"Ten laps! Now!"

"Y-yes!"

Emily took off and out of the employee lounge like a private following the drill sergeant's orders. Neil then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose triumphantly as he snickered. On her way out she brushed shoulders with a short-haired blonde woman who just stepped into the room.

"S-sorry Doctor Winters!" Emily shouted as she ran down the hallway.

"What the…" Roxanne looked over her shoulder, merely capturing the sight of a red blur within the periphery of her vision. She then turned her attention forward and glanced peculiarly at Neil. "Was that Emily? You're not making her do something unreasonable again are you?"

Neil turned his side towards her, crossed his arms, and strategically used the light to reflect off his glasses to shield his eyes dramatically. "It is a senpai's job to punish his juniors!"

Roxanne curled her lip contemptuously. "This isn't Japan, and you're no senpai. What're you punishing her for anyways?"

"For having a big mouth, that's what."

"No one's mouth is as big as yours."

"Would you like to join Emily?"

Roxanne crossed her arms and stared Neil down defiantly. "You can't make me do anything."

A malicious grin appeared on Neil's face. "Oh? I seem to recall recording you doing a certain _something _last week, if this video were to be released to everyone in the office…"

"Y-you're bluffing!" Roxanne stammered. "I wasn't doing anything!"

"That was quite a generous amount of shaving cream you used," Neil began, catching Roxanne's breath. "To think that Doctor Winters had such hairy-"

"I HATE YOU NEIL!" Roxanne yelled out as she, like Emily, stormed out of the lounge. "Emily, wait up!"

A man with grey hair tied into a braided ponytail coming into the room had to step to the side to avoid Roxanne. He then looked to Neil questioningly. "Being a little terror again, Neil?"

"I haven't the slightest clue what you're on about, Robert." Neil shrugged, approached the refrigerator, and began to rummage through its contents. "You don't think Eddie would mind if I steal his sandwich?"

"Stop taking other people's food, Neil."

"But there's people starving in Africa-"

"That's what you say to a kid when you want them to eat their vegetables."

"Oh, right." Despite Doctor Lin's objections, Neil reached into the refrigerator, pulled out Eddie's sandwich, unwrapped it, then frowned, wrapping it back up and placing it back in. "Speaking of vegetables, looks like Eddie's going through a vegetarian phase… again. I'm heading out for lunch, catch ya later, Linny."

Robert watched Neil with a frown as he walked out of the lounge, his fingers laced behind his head casually. _Why hasn't he been fired yet? _

Neil made his way to the building's entrance, just in time to see Emily and Roxanne huffing and puffing their way past him. "Hey girls! How many laps did you finish?"

"Wah… wah… wah… one…" Emily managed to voice out before collapsing onto the pavement.

Roxanne stopped when Emily collapsed and she doubled over, propping herself up by placing her hands on her knees. "Neil… The building is huge… please…"

"Weeeell," Neil cupped his chin in mock contemplation, "I suppose if the both of you acknowledge my seniority, supreme intellect, as well as my dashing good looks, I might just-"

"You're senior to only _one _of them, you're as dumb as rock, and you have a face only a mother could love." The retort had come from Eva who emerged from the entrance. "What's going on? Why're you lying down on the ground, Emily?"

Emily's chest took in great breaths as she tried voice out an answer. "I'm… dying… gah…"

"Neil… made us run." Roxanne pointed an accusatory finger at Neil. "Kick… his… ass…"

Eva raised an eyebrow at Roxanne. "Emily I understand, but I don't get how he got you to do what he wants too."

"That's… that's…" Unable to keep herself up any longer, Roxanne fell alongside Emily. A grumble in Neil's stomach told him it was time to get moving and he stepped over the exhausted women.

"Neil, where're you going?" Eva impatiently called out to him. "Didn't Emily tell you, we got a job and there's going to be a briefing."

"It's my lunch break, and all Eddy's got is a vegetarian sandwich. I'm going out to eat; the briefing can wait for later, can't it?" Neil begged.

"Hrmm…" Eva grumbled and crossed her arms. "Okay, fine. I while I'm out here I'll go with you."

"Yeah, yeah," Neil waved dismissively. "The more the merrier I guess."

"Hear that girls?" Eva looked down on the fallen women. "Lunch is on Neil today."

Upon hearing this, Roxanne and Emily seemed to have magically recovered and both were up with huge grins on their faces. It was payback time.

"Wait, what? I never said anything like that!" Neil's dissenting cries went ignored as Eva, Emily, and Roxanne began to make their way away from the Sigmund Corp. building.

"I heard there's a new sandwich shop just down the street."

"Yeah! Lisa told me about it!"

"Oi! You girls hearing me?! If I'm paying, _I _get to choose where we eat!"

A deathly silence permeated within the confines of the Scardato banquet hall. Nicholas Scardato sat at the head of the table, a beautiful oaken construct stained with a radiant brown finish, whilst the other six people, three on each side, sat perpendicular to him. Nicholas' glower seemed to freeze everyone present, so they sat up rigidly and silently.

* * *

"Durante Bazzoli…" Nicholas voiced out the name venomously. "Durante Bazzoli… Because of him, because of him…" Nicholas slammed the bottom side of his fist into the table, causing the others sitting at the table to jump up slightly in surprise. "How the hell did he get out?! Who did the Bazzoli family pay off?!"

No response came from the other men sitting at the table.

"Am I talkin' to a bunch o' _idioti_? Someone say something!"

The men at the table exchanged pleading glances with each other and yet Nicholas' question still went unanswered. Exasperated, Nicholas removed his glasses, placed them on the table, leaned back in his chair and massaged his brow. When he put his glasses back on, he noticed the six men all looking at him expectantly. Nicholas turned his attention to the one immediately to his left.

"Mikey, that… 'friend of yours', is he still available for some 'work'?"

Mikey, a man whose head was covered in a fedora, shook his head. "Sorry, Don. He's outta the game. Wants to start a family now, he does, yeah."

"Hmm…" Nicholas drummed his fingers in a rhythmic pattern on top of the table. "Do we have anyone else that's not on the commission list?"

"I know what you're thinking, Nicholas, but there's no point in acting so soon," the man to Nicholas' right spoke up. His white hair combed over the bald patch at the top of his head. His mustache was dark grey and masked his upper lip with its bushiness. His face was lined with wrinkles, like an old leather couch. He dressed in a silver-grey suit, a double breasted jacket covering a well-starched dress shirt adorned with a black tie. "The police are likely keeping an eye on him, so he won't be doing anything for a while, but we can't do anything in return, either."

Nicholas rolled his tongue in his cheek disdainfully. He hated being told he was wrong, but there was a reason this man was his _Consiglieri_, and his father's before.

"Yes, you're right, Cassius." Nicholas ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. "But now, it's like a game of chicken. Make a move too soon and the cops will get you. Make a move too late…"

"You get whacked," someone at the table completed for Nicholas, drawing about stern glances from everyone else present.

Nicholas merely nodded. "That's right." His expression turned blank and he stood up from his seat. "I'll spend what time I might have left with my wife. Cassius, you handle things here." Without waiting for a response, Nicholas then stood up and went for the exit. After pushing aside the large double doors, he looked over his shoulder to find Cassius had followed him out of the banquet hall and into the foyer.

"Nicholas, there are still things we must discuss in there."

"Which is why I left you in charge, Cassius," Nicholas replied, not even bothering to face Cassius as he began to climb the stairs.

Cassius gritted his teeth angrily. "Nicholas! _Cosa Nostra _comes first!"

Nicholas paused his ascent, his hand tightly squeezing the wooden railing that ran up the length of the stairs. "Cassius… just who the hell do you think you're yelling at?"

Nicholas' body began to tremble, and Cassius felt he had to take a step back. "I misspoke _Don_. _Per favore mi pardoni_."

"Hmph." Nicholas proceeded up the stairs, leaving Cassius to shake his head in disappointment once his back was turned.

* * *

"What kinda hipster excuse of a sandwich shop is this place?" Neil bemoaned as he waited in a line, Emily and Roxanne ahead of him with Eva behind him. Neil's lamentation drew about hateful glances from the customers around them, to which Neil responded with a lone middle finger.

Eva promptly wrapped her hand around his finger and bent it back.

"Owowowow! Eva, what the hell?" Neil had managed to wrestle his finger out of Eva's grasp and shot her a glare.

"Shut up, Neil. You're going to get us in trouble."

"Pfft. Trouble, like I'm afraid of some college kids."

"Neil, you're being a pain," Roxanne told him when she began to massage her temple with her finger. "Oh hey, the line's moving up."

Roxanne shoved Emily playfully, who was standing in front of her, towards the counter, and the two took their orders simultaneously. As Neil shifted impatiently from foot to foot, a sharp twinge tweaked his right shoulder, and he momentarily flinched, harshly inhaling as he did so. He avoided trying to massage the area, though his change in demeanor did not escape Eva's notice.

"It's hurting again, isn't it?"

"I'm fine…" Neil grumbled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. _Damn, it hurts…_

Eva, as if reading Neil's mind, placed a hand on his shoulder, and lightly squeezed. Her thumb massaged the back of his shoulder in a rolling pattern as her fingers kneaded the front. Though unpracticed and a little rough, the sensation alleviated the pain slightly and Neil nearly sunk back into her like a blob of gelatin.

"Thanks, Eva."

"You should really see that psychiatrist."

"…Maybe."

Emily and Roxanne had finished ordering, and Neil's jaw dropped at the sight of the amount of food Roxanne carried away from the counter.

"What the hell?! You trying to ruin me?!"

Roxanne stuck her tongue out at Neil and went to find an empty table. Eva pushed Neil forward and, like Roxanne and Emily did earlier, took their place at the counter simultaneously.

"Hello!" A peppy young lady behind the cash register greeted them. "Those two women ahead of you said you were going to pay for them, is that right sir?"

"And for me too," Eva chimed in, bringing about a resentful grunt from Neil.

"See anything here that you like?" The lady indicated towards the inside of the counter, which was a see-through glass-paned lightly refrigerated display containing wrapped sandwiches of assorted size, shapes, and contents. "Or I could have the kitchen staff make you something specific?"

"I want that one," Eva pointed to a triangular sandwich wrapped in a plastic that was labeled with a sticker reading "shredded barbecue chicken". Neil perused the contents of the counter, but when nothing satisfactory could be found he turned his attention to the cashier.

"I just want two slices of bread with as much _prosciutto _as I can demand in between."

"Um…" The cashier tilted her head in confusion.

"He means ham," Eva clarified.

"Hm? Of course I mean ham. How could that have been misconstrued?"

"Um… You said something like, 'pro-shoot-oh?'" The cashier enunciated. Neil stared at the cashier unblinkingly before responding.

"Sorry, yes, ham. And some bacon too, if you can."

The cashier then placed Eva's desired sandwich onto the counter before stepping away from the register to go into the kitchen.

"The pain is making you go loopy," Eva whispered at Neil. "You can't even tell when you're speaking Italian."

Neil dug a pinky into his ear, as if he were hearing an annoying ringing noise. "It's nothing like that. Tony the butcher would always flip a lid whenever someone said 'ham' instead of '_prosciutto_' so I got used to it, that's all."

"What about the non-Italian customers that step into his butcher shop?"

"Hm? Tony didn't have a butcher shop."

As the reasoning behind Tony's name began to dawn on Eva, the cashier returned holding a tray upon which lay exactly what Neil wanted on top a paper sheet, two slices of bread with a large heap of meat in the center. The sandwich had been sliced in half, forming two triangular servings. The cashier then placed Eva's sandwich next to Neil's on the tray and pressed a few buttons on the register.

"Okay dokey, so you're running total is sixty-seven, fifty!"

A vein began to bulge from Neil's temple as he pulled out his wallet and leafed through his bills, pulling out four twenty's.

"Keep the change," Neil uttered as he detected the cashier slowly nudging the tip jar his way. He then picked up the tray, and he and Eva made their way to the table at which Emily and Roxanne sat next to each other.

"That's a lot of pig," Roxanne remarked as she took notice of Neil's sandwich when Neil and Eva took the seats across from her and Emily.

"That's a lot of sandwiches," Neil countered, referring to the large pile of wrapped sandwiches next to Roxanne's arm. There were also some boxed juices and small bags of chips. "If you eat all that, you're gonna get fat."

Roxanne's face turned red. "I'm not going to eat it all at once! Besides, most of them are in preparation for a trip Robert and I are going to be taking tomorrow."

"Oh, so you and Linny are finally a thing then?" Neil teased as he picked up one of his half sandwiches. "You two make a cute and creepy couple."

Roxanne's red face flushed more brightly. "It's not like that! It's a business trip; we're going out of state for a job."

Eva, who had already unwrapped her sandwich and taken a bite out of it, swallowed what she had in her mouth before speaking. "A job? What does it entail?"

"It's pretty much the same as the last one around Christmas, this woman's husband says his wife wants to see the world," Roxanna stated a-matter-of-factly. "It's pretty much one of those things the dying often wished they did."

"You're saying that this woman was in no state to call Sigmund Corporation herself? Why would the corporation accept such a job?" Eva continuously queried.

"Why do you think?" Roxanne said with a smirk. "It's because he's loaded. Me'n and Robert just got the details last night."

"A big commission then," Neil noted. "But of course, as typical of these bigwig types, if you mess up, the corporation is going to get sued. You might even get fired."

"That's not gonna happen," Roxanne said, though sounding slightly apprehensive.

"Well, at the very least, it'll be difficult," Neil insisted. "The fact that her husband made the call for her indicates that it was unplanned not to mention she is more than likely in a very unstable condition. Chances are she might even pass away before you could even finish the job."

Neil's statement momentarily ceased Roxanne's movements and she gave the table a blank stare.

"Um… Doctor Winters?" Emily waved a hand in front of Roxanne's eyes. "I don't think Doctor Watts means to say-"

"Oh yeah, no, it's not like I'm saying you _will _fail," Neil said, a devilish grin appearing on his face, "buuuuut, it's not like your clients can't afford a lawyer."

Roxanne did her best to exude confidence. "Y-yeah, so w-what? This wouldn't b-be our f-first time…"

Eva, rather than trying to placate Roxanne, merely watched on, amusedly, continuing to consume her barbeque-chicken sandwich. She had all the faith in the world in Roxanne, and of course someone with Robert's experience is sure to get the job done. Despite Eva's faith however, Roxanne was effectively immobilized by the thought of failure, enough so that Neil was able to sneakily swipe a juice box from Roxanne.

_Of course_, Eva noted to herself, _leave it to Neil to start playing mind games just so he can steal a juice box. _

"While we're on the topic of jobs," Neil said as he removed the straw from its wrapping and stabbed it into the box, "what's our job Eva?"

"The patient's ninety years old and is currently suffering from multiple organ failure!" Emily, rather gleefully, blurted out.

Neil raised an amused eyebrow. "You seem rather overjoyed by the fact."

"Ah, no! I didn't mean to come off like that!" Emily covered her cheeks to hide her blush. "It's just that this'll be my first time delving into another person's memories. I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I'm hoping that doesn't make me a bad person…"

"Hey now…" Neil leaned in towards Emily and gave her a comforting smile. Though surprised by Neil's sudden reassurance, Emily smiled back, expecting to hear additional words of security. Eva hid her frown behind her sandwich, not falling for Neil's pretense. "If people didn't get sick and die, we'd be out of business, yeah?"

"Uh… wha…" Emily's mouth slightly gaped as a dismayed expression took over her face. Neil leaned back in his seat and sipped triumphantly from his juice box, smirking at the two women in front of him who now held vacant stares. However, he quickly lost interest and went back to discussing the job.

"So how much are we getting?"

"The commission's small," Eva stated as she reached out for one of Roxanne's juice boxes. Neil slipped one across the table towards her. "But the job isn't too hard. The life support could keep him alive for a few more days; we won't need any more than two at most."

"Hm." Neil took a drawn out sip from his juice box until it created the raspy sound of near-empty container.

It took a while before Emily and Roxanne began to move, and even longer still before anyone said anything, having spent the majority of their lunch break in silence, a silence that had been broken once everyone had finish their meal, stepped outside the shop, and began their walk back to the corporation building, with Roxanne carrying all of her food and drinks in a plastic bag.

"_Braap,_" Neil belched out, not even making an effort to suppress it.

"Dr. Watts…" Emily pleaded as she placed her hand over her nose.

Eva simply rolled her eyes whilst Roxanne maintained the silent bearing Neil had instilled upon her in the sandwich shop.

"Keep your shirt on, it'd be unhealthy if I kept it in. 'Sides, Eva burps louder than I do. Serious, I got it on my phone, look."

"Neil, you show that video to anyone, I will shove it up your-"

"Switch with me," Roxanne interjected.

Eva and Neil exchanged confused glances.

"You want Eva to shove my phone up your-"

"No! I mean jobs, switch _jobs _with me!"

Eva looked at Roxanne disbelievingly. "Are you seriously telling me that what Neil said got to you?"

Rather than responding verbally, Roxanne gave Eva her best set of puppy-dog eyes. Eva's jaw slightly lowered at such a pathetic display. Neil began to eye the plastic bag filled with food Roxanne held, and when she took notice of the direction of his gaze, she extended the bag towards him.

"It can't be helped, I guess," Neil said as he accepted the bag from Roxanne.

"The boss isn't going to like this," Eva pointed out as she crossed her arms. "Roxanne, you should have more faith in yourself. Or at the very least, have some faith in your partner, Robert."

Roxanne lowered her face in shame. "I know."

"But I suppose its good news for you, Emily" Eva went on. "You'll be getting the experience you need for your dissertation soon enough."

Emily beamed at Eva before turning to Roxanne. "So what're the details?"

"Robert has the file, I'll get it to you guys sometime tonight," Roxanne answered cheerily, the prospect of a lawsuit now out of her mind.

Neil had begun to rummage through the bag of food, pulling out a plastic-wrapped sandwich.

"Seriously, you're gonna eat more?"

"But there are kids in Africa-"

"Why are you bringing that up?!"

* * *

Neil finally arrived home, having stopped by the appliance store to buy himself another coffee maker, a French Press this time. A gleeful smile took hold of Neil as he rushed into his apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind him as he ran into the kitchen to begin unboxing his newest prized possession. As he excitedly began to pick at the circular piece of tape that sealed the box, a familiar penetrating sensation took hold of his shoulder.

"Fuuuu… not now…"

Neil clenched his left hand over his aching shoulder in an attempt to replicate Eva's massage technique. For a moment, the pain seemed to have been alleviated and Neil returned his attention back to unpackaging his coffee maker. Neil paid for this lapse in concentration as an unforgiving jolt of agony surged from his shoulder and brought him down to his knees.

Neil gritted his teeth and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as he dug his hand into his pocket and brought out his phone. His thumb fumbled all over the touchscreen as he vainly tried to operate the device whilst enduring intermittent bursts of pain. It seemed like an eternity before he had finally made his way into his contacts list, calling the person at the very top.

"Eva… help…"

* * *

As always, please leave a review so I know how I'm doing :)


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